


Secrets Are a Slave's life

by DopamineLover



Series: The Tatooine Padawan at Temple [2]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Love, Jedi Temple (Star Wars), Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Misunderstandings, Padawan Anakin Skywalker, Tatooine Culture (Star Wars), Tatooine Folklore (Star Wars), Tatooine Slave Culture (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DopamineLover/pseuds/DopamineLover
Summary: Sometimes Temple teaching clashes with Tatooine's lessons. And Anakin gets caught up in the middle. If he's brave enough to ask Obi-Wan, maybe he can reconcile the two.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: The Tatooine Padawan at Temple [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061420
Comments: 4
Kudos: 301





	Secrets Are a Slave's life

“Obi-Wan?” A small voice pulled the jedi master from his holopad reading. His padawan sat beside him on the couch, looking as if he were mustering up the courage to ask him a question. He was wringing his hands in his robes, and flickering his gaze between them and his master. Which is out of character for his constantly energetic and curious padawan.

“Yes, Anakin?” Obi-Wan shut his holopad off and settled into the couch farther, ready to answer another question. Last time it was about words that described or involved water. What does shower mean? What’s an ocean? How is that different from a lake? A sea? And that was only day one. Yesterday he was met with what are seasons and when will Coruscant become warm? Which led to an entire discussion on Tatooine’s almost indistinguishable seasons and how Coruscant’s is only based on temperature since there’s almost no vegetation.

“I uh, I was wondering if, uh,” Anakin pauses, looking down at his hands, fidgeting on some droid part that Force only knows is being built in their shared quarters. Obi-Wan allows the silence, letting Anakin formulate the words. His padawan turns to face him entirely, determination now set. “I have a question about something Master Till said. I don’t understand.” Ah, Master Till teaches classes in the creche, so it must be an academic question.

“Go ahead, Anakin.”

“Today in class, Master Till said it was bad to keep secrets.” Oh, not what he was expecting. Nor the pure confusion on Anakin’s face.

“Well, that’s right. It _is_ bad to to keep secrets,” Obi-Wan starts, trying to see where his padawan is confused and to gauge the boy’s reaction. And sadly, he gets a frown in return.

“Oh. Okay,” Anakin responds, looking back down at his fidgeting fingers, clearly not okay with that answer.

“How about you tell me what was confusing about what Master Till said.” Obi-Wan needs to figure this out. He and Anakin promised to be honest about any confusion Anakin had, no matter what the question was. It certainly was helping Anakin find more trust in his teacher, and helped Anakin understand Jedi life better. So he can’t let Anakin let this go either, especially if he got the courage to ask him. “Was it the context he said it in? Did he say something else?”

“He said that Jedi shouldn’t lie or keep secrets. That it was a bad thing.” Anakin pauses his hands and legs from fidgeting to look up briefly at Obi-Wan again. “He said that secrets can get you killed on missions.”

How do you answer that? Yes, Master Till is right, don’t lie. But, clearly, Anakin holds a different belief. And how is Obi-Wan going to get him to tell him? Anakin has always been very tight-lipped about his life on Tatooine, tending to focus on what was in front of him here at the Temple. But maybe, for the first time Obi-Wan considers, maybe his padawan’s quietness about Tatooine wasn’t from an unwillingness to relive the trauma of a slave’s life, but that secrecy was taught to him.

“Well, Master Till isn’t necessarily wrong. It’s important to try and be honest, and to not keep secrets on missions. Qui-Gon and I always had to be honest when we went on missions. It would be dangerous to keep secrets from each other” Obi-Wan strokes his newly grown beard, thinking of how to phrase his teaching. “But not all secrets are bad. And sometimes, only sometimes, you can’t be entirely honest.”

“Exactly! That’s what I thought!” Anakin exclaims, brightening at someone seeming to agree with him. His arms fly up in relief, finally gaining some of the normal energy nervous-Anakin is preventing. “That’s what Mom _always_ said,” Anakin nods his head, relaxing against the couch and Obi-Wan’s side.

“What did she say, Anakin?”

“Mom and Grandmother would always say that secrecy is a slave’s life. Everything is secret from masters. If they know what you fear, or who you love, or that you can read and write, or your stories, then they own all of you. They know how to break you and hurt you. But, if you keep your stories secret, Mom said you’ll never be owned. That’s why stories are only for family. That’s why what we speak is secret to masters too.”

And there it is: a clash between the Temple and Tatooine. It’s coming more and more to light the longer Anakin is at the Temple. And while it’s probably important to take this teaching opportunity, Obi-Wan can’t help but want to know more of his padawan’s culture. Wouldn’t that help him in his teachings, after all?

“And what are these stories? Like the one of Leia and uh—”

“Lukka! Yes. They’re the stories passed down from each generation of slaves. Sometimes Grandmother would tell them, sometimes Mom, sometimes the other kids, the older ones. Even names are stories.”

“But you’ve told me one already. Am I allowed to know them?” Obi-Wan really is just trying to get it all to make sense. He doesn’t want to make Anakin feel uncomfortable. The jedi really do try to respect all cultures.

“Duh. You’re family.” And that, he was not expecting. It’s only been a few months of Anakin living on Coruscant with Obi-Wan, and Anakin already trusts him enough to tell him these stories. Stories that his ancestors and his people hold desperately close to their hearts.

“Oh,” ok, just drop that bombshell there, Skywalker. Honestly, Obi-Wan wasn't sure Anakin liked him all that much.

“Here, when Mom taught me about secrecy and how important it is, she told me this story.” Anakin sits up a little and grabs his teacher’s wrists, much to Obi-Wan’s dismay. Anakin’s shielding has gotten better, but not strong enough for his supernova presence in the Force. And its even more blinding when in physical contact. But, as Anakin begins, Obi-Wan can feel Anakin’s presence dim, just so that it’s comfortable, like he’s more at ease in telling the story.

“So there was a slave that had a nice _depur_. He always spoke kindly to the slave and would forgive him if he ever failed. So he was always honest with his master. He told him of his wife – a slave of a different master-- , of his daughter, of how they were, of the ways of the slaves. And his master always was kind to him. He would ask how his daughter was and how his wife was, and he always let them celebrate their holidays to Leia. But!” Anakin brought Obi-Wan’s wrists up with his hand movements, waving them around in emphasis, as if he’d forgotten he was even holding them.

“But the master was not a kind man! The slave had failed to please his master one day, which soon became multiple days. And this made him angry. So he thought of a fitting punishment for the slave.” Anakin’s look of awe in the storytelling fell into a deeply mournful gaze. “The slave came home late to his wife from working. But his home had died. His wife and daughter were laid dead in their quarters, their blood thick in the sand, and their bodies abused. The slave wept. He cried and cried until there was no more water in his bones.

“He took a knife to his tongue, cutting out the cause of his misery.” Anakin paused, letting the bloody imagery pass through their training bond, almost as clear as if it was Anakin’s memory, rather than just a story. “He could tell no more stories, betray no more secrets. And though he brought _dukkra_ to his wife and daughter, he would suffer for ages, never finding happiness again.”

The silence at the solemn story hung heavy in the air and in their bond as Obi-Wan mulled over the meaning and the importance of this new story. Of the stories slaves were told as mere children. Of the real risks Anakin had faced in bondage and the lessons he had learned too early. Of the startling wisdom his padawan held.

“Silence is a slave’s life,” Anakin breaks the minute-long silence, his gaze far away, and his voice strong but small. “Secrecy is how we live. True honesty brings nothing but sadness and pain. No _depur_ can be trusted. There are no nice masters. None that care about their property. We have only our family. Our brothers and sisters of the Desert.

“Secrets are _not_ bad. They save us,” Anakin pleads, looking Obi-Wan in the eyes. The sadness they hold startles Obi-Wan. Oh Force, how does he reconcile the jedi teaching with Tatooine culture? How is he to get Anakin to understand that honesty holds some importance too? Somehow, Obi-Wan knows whatever he’s going to try, can’t fit with what Anakin already has strong imagery of. At least not tonight. Not while the Temple is still so new.

“No, they’re not always bad,” Obi-Wan concedes, with a small smile. “But honesty has a place too, does it not? You’ve just been extremely honest with me. I’m sure you were honest with your mother too. In the same way, Jedi are called to be honest with one another, with their masters and padawans. And I’m sure that Master Till left out the most important part,” Obi-Wan pauses, capturing Anakin’s attention. “That there are many different ways something can be honest. Sometimes, it only takes a certain viewpoint to make your honesty work for you.”

Oh thank Force for Anakin’s small smile. Anakin gives a quiet giggle, showing his understanding of what Obi-Wan is implying. And maybe, in time, Anakin will learn how a Jedi uses honesty and words as a weapon, rather than merely silence as a defense. So Obi-Wan squeezes the hands that have dropped his own wrists.

“Things might not always make sense at first, but I’m glad that you asked me. I will always do my best to answer. And I am thankful for your honesty.”

Anakin smiles even bigger before throwing himself at Obi-Wan in a huge hug.

“Thank you for always explaining, _pakanu_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Same as usual, I base the Tatooine culture off what I've learned through stories on this site. So it's mostly original except for some words from the slave language.  
> Dukkra = freedom/death  
> Pakanu = teacher


End file.
